4 ms·

Never get too busy making a living that you forget to make a life

22 points by jyothi 17y ago

jyothi 17y ago
Seems common knowledge to most of us but something we most always miss out while we focus on winning the pseudo race. A very candid post, an open book of life experience of a high achieving GSB grad. Many of us would have gone through this disturbing phase personally, its just a reminder to remember to live the life too. :)
addicttostress 17y ago
I've always thought that I'll make a life after I make a living. My day to day isn't all that rough but I've got a long way to go before I can really relax.
- diego 17y ago
  Like John Lennon said, life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.
- arthurk 17y ago
  You should read this short story: http://www.businessballs.com/stories.htm#businessman_fisherman_story http://www.businessballs.com/stories.htm#businessman_fisherm...
jmtame 17y ago
this is what I hear every time I visit my grandparents..
edw519 17y ago
Why do "making a living" and "make a life" have to be 2 different things? Better yet: What would you do for a living if $ didn't matter? I love to program and can't imagine doing anything else. Sure, there are times where I'd rather be doing something else, but not very often. I often think about one of my sports heroes, Jack Lambert of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who once said he'd play football for 50 bucks a game. I'm not suggesting that anyone actually do that, but if you don't feel that way, you may be in the wrong profession.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
octane 17y ago
Sure, if you equate "making a living" to "working for some guy who's going to get rich off your work", it's never a good idea to work so hard you forget to live. Only a fool would work hard for someone else. If, however, you're making a company and not a living, this nice little rule doesn't apply anymore.
- mronge 17y ago
  I still think your missing the point. Sure you might like to program and design a product, and it might not be work to you.. but where does a significant other fit into this picture? What about having children? If you're spending all your time working on a company than you won't have time for these finer things in life.
  - octane 17y ago
    > but where does a significant other fit into this picture? It doesn't. I'm not "missing" the point. Children? Don't make me laugh, I'm far too young for that.
- nostrademons 17y ago
  Man, that sounds familiar. I bet if you went back two years on this site, you could find comments from me that say almost exactly the same thing. Anyway, as someone who tried making a company and is now happily "working for some guy who's going to get rich off your work", I want to say "Yes, but..." It can be incredibly rewarding to work flat-out on work that's worth doing. I wouldn't trade my startup experience for anything - not even the chance to have joined Google in 2005 and now be more senior than 85% of engineers there, or the chance to be employee #2 at DropBox. But you have to remember that the median startup outcome is zero. Zilch. No value created. You're not "working for some guy who's going to get rich off your work", because nobody's going to get rich off your work. It just disappears into the ether when you find out that nobody wants it. And that's basically unavoidable, no matter how hard you work: you can certainly increase your chance of success, but you're not going to bring it over half. The people I know who are most bitter about their startup experiences are those who are sure they're going to get rich. Because they don't, and then they realize they "traded in their twenties for a worthless pile of tech stock." Do a startup for the right reasons - either because you need to test your limits and see just what you can accomplish, or because there's a product that absolutely must exist and nobody else is making it happen. (The latter case is also the most likely to succeed, financially.) Don't do it because you "want to be an entrepreneur", "don't want to work for anyone else", or worst of all, because you "want to get rich".
windsurfer 17y ago
You're just trying to slow us down! ;)
- jyothi 17y ago
  :) I agree if its your own startup it probably demands as much attention as your personal life infact there is no demarcation. I by nature never had that demarcation even when I worked for others. But you know when somethings go real bad, like in the above post or even in my own case, with mental states, emotions and relationships because of this work stress you would regret. So this is just a reminder to be on the back of the mind.
jcapote 17y ago
No thanks. I'm sleeping on the office floor every night, broadcast.com style; I hear it worked out great for Mark Cuban.

22 points by jyothi 17y ago

Seems common knowledge to most of us but something we most always miss out while we focus on winning the pseudo race. A very candid post, an open book of life experience of a high achieving GSB grad. Many of us would have gone through this disturbing phase personally, its just a reminder to remember to live the life too. :)

addicttostress 17y ago

I've always thought that I'll make a life after I make a living. My day to day isn't all that rough but I've got a long way to go before I can really relax.

diego 17y ago
Like John Lennon said, life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.
arthurk 17y ago
You should read this short story: http://www.businessballs.com/stories.htm#businessman_fisherman_story http://www.businessballs.com/stories.htm#businessman_fisherm...

jmtame 17y ago

this is what I hear every time I visit my grandparents..

edw519 17y ago

Why do "making a living" and "make a life" have to be 2 different things? Better yet: What would you do for a living if $ didn't matter? I love to program and can't imagine doing anything else. Sure, there are times where I'd rather be doing something else, but not very often. I often think about one of my sports heroes, Jack Lambert of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who once said he'd play football for 50 bucks a game. I'm not suggesting that anyone actually do that, but if you don't feel that way, you may be in the wrong profession.

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

octane 17y ago

Sure, if you equate "making a living" to "working for some guy who's going to get rich off your work", it's never a good idea to work so hard you forget to live. Only a fool would work hard for someone else. If, however, you're making a company and not a living, this nice little rule doesn't apply anymore.

mronge 17y ago
I still think your missing the point. Sure you might like to program and design a product, and it might not be work to you.. but where does a significant other fit into this picture? What about having children? If you're spending all your time working on a company than you won't have time for these finer things in life.
- octane 17y ago
  > but where does a significant other fit into this picture? It doesn't. I'm not "missing" the point. Children? Don't make me laugh, I'm far too young for that.
nostrademons 17y ago
Man, that sounds familiar. I bet if you went back two years on this site, you could find comments from me that say almost exactly the same thing. Anyway, as someone who tried making a company and is now happily "working for some guy who's going to get rich off your work", I want to say "Yes, but..." It can be incredibly rewarding to work flat-out on work that's worth doing. I wouldn't trade my startup experience for anything - not even the chance to have joined Google in 2005 and now be more senior than 85% of engineers there, or the chance to be employee #2 at DropBox. But you have to remember that the median startup outcome is zero. Zilch. No value created. You're not "working for some guy who's going to get rich off your work", because nobody's going to get rich off your work. It just disappears into the ether when you find out that nobody wants it. And that's basically unavoidable, no matter how hard you work: you can certainly increase your chance of success, but you're not going to bring it over half. The people I know who are most bitter about their startup experiences are those who are sure they're going to get rich. Because they don't, and then they realize they "traded in their twenties for a worthless pile of tech stock." Do a startup for the right reasons - either because you need to test your limits and see just what you can accomplish, or because there's a product that absolutely must exist and nobody else is making it happen. (The latter case is also the most likely to succeed, financially.) Don't do it because you "want to be an entrepreneur", "don't want to work for anyone else", or worst of all, because you "want to get rich".

windsurfer 17y ago

You're just trying to slow us down! ;)

jyothi 17y ago
:) I agree if its your own startup it probably demands as much attention as your personal life infact there is no demarcation. I by nature never had that demarcation even when I worked for others. But you know when somethings go real bad, like in the above post or even in my own case, with mental states, emotions and relationships because of this work stress you would regret. So this is just a reminder to be on the back of the mind.

jcapote 17y ago

No thanks. I'm sleeping on the office floor every night, broadcast.com style; I hear it worked out great for Mark Cuban.